Litecoin was launched in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, as a “lighter” and faster version of Bitcoin. Often described as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, Litecoin uses the same basic blockchain structure but offers shorter block times (2.5 minutes versus Bitcoin’s 10 minutes) and a different hashing algorithm known as Scrypt. Its goal was to make cryptocurrency transactions quicker and more efficient for everyday use. However, Litecoin is fundamentally based on Bitcoin’s open-source code and did not introduce any game-changing innovations. It certainly wasn’t the first cryptocurrency — it was created two years after Bitcoin and exists as one of many early altcoins that sought to improve upon Bitcoin’s model. While Litecoin has endured and remains respected in the crypto community, it cannot claim the title of being the originator of blockchain-based currency.